Martifer Solar USA and Clean Energy Collective leading the way for community-owned solar gardens

DENVER - L.A.-based Martifer Solar USA -- which has a regional office in Denver -- and Carbondale-based Clean Energy Collective announced they are partnering to bring more community-owned solar gardens to Colorado, with a pipeline of more than 5 megawatts anticipated nationwide this year.

Those Colorado projects include a 1.15 megawatt project for San Miguel Power Association - expected to be the biggest community-owned solar array in the nation - and a 115,000-watt solar garden based at Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association's headquarters in Windsor to be dedicated Aug. 28.

The projects follow a partnership last year that resulted in a five-acre, 858-kilowatt solar array installed at Garfield County Regional Airport in Rifle, which was the largest community-owned solar garden in the U.S.

"The (Garfield County) program is highly subscribed and outperforming our expectations a year after its completion," said Paul Spencer, founder and CEO of Clean Energy Collective.

"We have proven that community-owned solar works and works well," he said. "Customers, utilities and the solar industry are all paying attention."

"With demonstrated success in Colorado and net metering legislation on the table in California, now is the time for community-owned solar," said Raffi Agopian, Martifer Solar CEO.

"We have always sought innovative ways to deliver solar power to Americans, and our partnership with the Clean Energy Collective represents the best of those efforts."

Purchasers of solar panels in the arrays can offset their utility bills with the power they produce.